


same old home, brand new day

by rileyhart



Series: stranger things two point five [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Gen, hopper taking care of his daughter, set right after el closed the gate, the eggo extravaganza makes an appearance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-10
Updated: 2017-11-10
Packaged: 2019-01-31 11:41:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12681177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rileyhart/pseuds/rileyhart
Summary: El's exhausted, so is Hopper.It's time to go home. Both of them.But Mike isn't ready to leave her side quite yet.





	same old home, brand new day

**Author's Note:**

> heyo!! so this is set right after el closed the gate, and i'm gonna be putting all my post gate-closing/post st2 fics in the series stranger things two point five bc i have maaaanyyyyy more to come! anyways enjoy this one and please leave a comment and kudos :)

El’s fallen asleep by the time Hopper drives back to the Byers’ house.

He can only imagine how exhausted she is after closing that gate, and he doubts that she’s had any proper sleep in the last couple of days either.

Mike, kneeling by a half-asleep Will, hears the sound of an engine and stops dead in the middle of his sentence, rushing out of the house to Hopper’s truck, pulling the passenger seat door open before it had stopped.

“Whoa, kid,” Hopper mutters, as he pulls the keys out of the ignition and the truck stops with a jolt.

Mike ignores him. “Is she okay?!” He reaches out for her hands. “El? El! Can you hear me?!”

“She’s just asleep, kid, she’s exhausted.” Hopper tells him, not feeling too awake himself.

“Does that mean she did it?” A voice comes from behind Mike, and he turns to see Jonathan speaking, accompanied by the others.

Hopper nods. “She did it. She closed the gate.”

There’s a cheer, and the kids whoop and embrace, and Joyce lets out a shaky laugh.

“Is she gonna be okay?” Mike asks Hopper, looking up at him.

“She’ll be fine, she just needs to sleep.” He says to Mike softly, and Mike nods, looking less anxious.

Hopper gets out of the car and walks round to El’s door, pushing Mike gently aside to pick up the sleeping girl.

They all head back inside, Mike hovering at Hopper’s side as he carries El.

Hopper places her on the couch, before looking around, his eyes falling on Will. “You feeling better, kid?” He asks him.

Will nods. “Yeah, a bit dazed but me.”

Hopper smiles and ruffles his hair. “Well, that’s good.”

He looks at Joyce, and walks over to her. “How are you doing?” He murmurs softly.

Joyce just shakes her head. “I can’t… not now. I’m just happy Will is back.”

Jonathan makes everybody hot cocoa, and they all sit in the Byers’ living room, Mike sitting on the end of the couch with El, as Hopper tells them about her closing the gate, which leads to the boys and Max talking over the top of each other to tell them about Billy, the tunnels, and the demodogs.

“Wait, so where did Billy go?” Nancy asks.

The boys look at Max for an answer who shrugs. “I don’t know, he must’ve woken up and left before we could get back.”

“Oh and Mrs. Byers?” Dustin pipes up.

“Yeah?”

“There might be a demodog in your fridge…”

Joyce looks speechless and Jonathan chokes on his cocoa.

“What?! It’s a scientific discovery!” Dustin protests.

“That we are not telling anyone about!” Hopper says in his booming voice, and everyone turns to look at him.

“It’s a _scientific_ discovery!” Dustin repeats dramatically.

“I don’t care!” Hopper booms. “If any of the authorities got wind of the demodogs or the Upside Down or whatever it would put her—“ he points at El “—in danger, okay? And I’m so close to actually being able to give her a normal life, okay?”

Dustin nods, defeated.

“The Lab is going to be shut down soon anyway,” Nancy interjects, and now everybody is staring at her, waiting for an explanation.

Nancy and Jonathan share a glance, before she gives everybody the edited version of what they’d been doing for the past few days.

“That’s an even better reason to get rid of the demodog.” Hopper says once Nancy has finished speaking. “It interferes with their story, and it’s a good story, and we should all stick to it.”

* * *

With the help of Steve and Hopper, Dustin buries the demodog.

“What if somebody finds the bones in the future?” He asks as they head back to the house.

“Well, hopefully we’ll all be dead by then and somebody else can handle it.” Steve replies.

Everybody has scattered when they go back into the house. Joyce is putting Will to bed, Nancy and Jonathan are washing up everybody’s mugs in the kitchen, Lucas and Max are sitting on the couch, half asleep, and Mike is perched on the end of the other couch with a still sleeping El.

Hopper picks her up. “We best be going,” he says to no one in particular. “I’ll see all you lot soon, and remember, not a word to anybody.”

Mike stands up, and his hands curl into fists. “I’m going with you.” He says defiantly.

Hopper sighs. “Kid, I don’t have the time for—”

“I’m going with you!” Mike repeats, louder this time, cracks in his voice.

Hopper doesn’t respond, trying to figure what to do.

Mike steps closer to him. “You can’t hide her now that I know,” there are tears in his eyes now, “you can’t.”

Hopper sighs, defeated. “You’re right.”

“What?” Mike says in surprise, having full expected a full on argument. “I mean, yeah, I am.”

“She’d want you to come,” Hopper says, and Mike smiles, scrunching up his sleeve and wiping his tears away. “Nancy?” Hopper calls out to the kitchen. “Is that okay if I take Mike for the night? I’ll have him back first thing in the morning.

Nancy hesitates, but she knows how important it is to Mike. “Yeah, yeah of course.”

“Okay, come on,” Hopper says to Mike as he walks out of the house, “but don’t expect to be sleeping over every other night, okay?”

Mike nods eagerly, following him out.

* * *

The ride to Hopper’s is mostly silent, with Mike and El both in the passenger seat, her sleeping head resting on his shoulder, and Mike absentmindedly stroking her fingers.

He stares out of the car window, determined to stay angry at Hopper.

“I know you’re still angry at me, kid,” Hopper says quietly.

Mike doesn’t respond.

“And I get it, I do, and maybe…” he sighs, “maybe I should’ve done things differently.”

Mike looks over at him.

“I don’t know, I mean… I know she’s safe, so I did that part right, I guess… but other parts I’m gonna do differently now, I promise, kid.”

Mike still doesn’t respond, just a gulp and a nod of the head.

“She missed you,” Hopper adds.

“I missed her, too,” Mike murmurs softly into the dark car.

* * *

At the cabin, Mike watches Hopper lay El gently in her bed. He watches him take off her shoes and wipe the blood and make up off her face. He does all of this with a care and precision Mike had never imagined Chief Jim Hopper to possess.

Mike carries the couch cushions into El’s room and lies them next to her bed.

“What are you doing?” Hopper asks him.

“Making a bed.” Mike replies promptly without looking up at him.

“Why can’t you just sleep on the couch?”

“I’ve already moved the cushions.”

“I—” Hopper sighs and stops talking, too tired to argue over something so pointless with a kid who pretty much hates him. “Fine, I’ll go get you a blanket.”

Mike is already asleep by the time Hopper finds him a spare blanket and pillow.

Hopper smiles to himself and sighs exasperatedly as he lays the blanket over Mike and props his head up onto the pillow.

“Goodnight, El,” he whispers, kissing her forehead. “Goodnight, Mike,” he whispers, turning off their light and shutting the door.

* * *

El wakes in a daze the next morning. Light is peeking through the curtains, and she sits up, her head throbbing. She frowns, unable to remember how she ended up back in her bedroom in the cabin, and then last night comes flooding back to her. Mike, Hopper, the others, closing the gate.

She lies back down in her bed, letting the memories of yesterday wash over her. After everything she really is glad to be home, and she knows she’ll be able to see Mike and the others now.

She can hear movement in the kitchen, and goes to get out of bed before gasping at the sight of Mike lying asleep on her bedroom floor.

“Mike?” She whispers down at the sleeping boy. He looks so peaceful, so pretty, and she smiles down at him for a moment before climbing out of the other side of bed.

“Mike’s in my room,” El says to Hopper as she walks into the kitchen.

Hopper turns around, smiling at the sight of her. “Yeah, he didn’t want to leave your side last night.”

El slides into her seat at the table. “So you let him come here?”

Hopper sits down opposite her. “He wouldn’t take no for answer.”

El smiles slightly. “Does this mean… I’ll be able to see Mike and my other friends sometimes?”

“Would that make you happy?” Hopper asks her, and El nods so vigorously that he almost laughs. “Then yes,” he tells her and her eyes light up, “I’m sure we can come to some sort of arrangement.”

The Eggos in the toaster pop up and Hopper walks over to get them, grabbing the whip cream and candy on the way too.

“Extravaganza!” El beams as he sits back.

“Extravaganza is right,” he replies as he watches her pile on the whip cream and candy on top of the four Eggos. “Do you remember much of last night?” He asks her.

“I remember shutting the gate,” she replies.

“And you feel okay now?”

She nods. “Head hurts though.”

“Yeah, I can imagine, you had blood coming out of everywhere yesterday, even your eyes… it was terrifying.”

El looks up and sees an emotion in Hopper’s eyes that she can’t quite determine, something like fear and sadness mixed together, and then it’s gone and he smiles. “You closed it though.”

She smiles back. “I closed it.”

He reaches over to ruffle her hair. “I’m proud of you, kid.”

She smiles as she takes another bite of the Eggo Extravaganza.

“El! El!” Comes Mike’s panicked voice from her room.

“Mike!” El calls out, abandoning her Eggo and running to the room. “Mike, I’m here,” she says softly, standing in the doorway, and he melts at the sight of her.

“El,” he breathes, walking over to her, “sorry, I woke up and you…”

“It’s okay, Mike,” she reaches for one of his hands and squeezes gently; he smiles. “Come, we’re having an Eggo Extravaganza.” She leads him by the hand to the table; Hopper has already retrieved an extra chair.

“Wow,” Mike says sitting down and looking at the Eggos in front of him, “those are extravagant.”

El nods, sitting down herself. “You know I can spell extravagant?”

Mike smiles and raises his eyebrows. “Yeah?”

She nods, obviously proud of herself. “E-X-T-R-A-V-A-G-A-N-T.”

Mike grins at her. “That’s pretty good, El.”

El smiles back at him, taking a bite of the Eggos.

Hopper watches the kids affectionately. “Hey Mike,” he says eventually, and both kids look over at him, Mike’s jaw stiffening, “I was wondering if you’re free Wednesday afternoons.”

“Um, yeah, I am.” Mike replies, slightly confused.

“Would you like to come here after school? Hang out with El for a few hours? Keep her company?”

The light in Mike’s eyes is indescribable, and he’s unable to stop smiling. “Yes,” he nods enthusiastically, “I would love that.” And Hopper knows he’s forgiven.

“ _And_ ,” Hopper adds, and Mike and El exchange a look of disbelief as if to say ‘ _There’s more?!_ ’, “I’m going to talk to Joyce about El going over to hers on the weekends maybe, so your whole gang can hang out.”

“I can leave the cabin?” El asks in awe.

“ _If_ it’s okay with Joyce, then yeah,” Hopper says, and El gets out of her chair and hugs him tightly. “Hey, no need to thank me too much,” Hopper says, “I’m just being a half decent person.”

Mike and El spend the rest of their time eating the Eggo Extravaganza talking about all the things they’ll do in their time together, and Hopper listens, smiling, knowing he’s made the right decision this time.


End file.
